Reasons I'm not getting a Kindle but the Sony 505 instead.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

I have a basic phone, so for me the Kindle was a nice way to look up some info online while in various waiting rooms. It was nice to be able to calm my fears and have intelligent questions for the medical professionals.

No, it's not especially pleasant going online but that was my only choice. I have a Palm T|X with built in wireless but unless I upgrade my phone account so that I can tether my Palm to the phone to go online I'll have to stay with the Kindle.

I would say the Kindle is better than a any regular phone I've had for web browsing but the more recent web-enable smartphones are way better for websurfing than Kindle. I have an HTC-6800 at the moment. Way better for websurfing, sucktacular for reading books.

[ctitanic]

Originally Posted by Astropin

You don't have to pay for 24hr web access? I find that hard to believe.

You better believe it. The web browsing is limited but free.

[ctitanic]

Originally Posted by astra_lestat

I would prefer to read a book or a magazin instead of using a device similar to Kindle for browsing the Internet.

I agree, the kindle is not a MID but the fact that you can search the web for info in case it's needed is a plus. And who knows... once the kindle becomes a really popular device new hacks come out to allows you to share that EDVO connection with other devices.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by ctitanic

I agree, the kindle is not a MID but the fact that you can search the web for info in case it's needed is a plus. And who knows... once the kindle becomes a really popular device new hacks come out to allows you to share that EDVO connection with other devices.

And if people start doing that, you can bet Amazon will start charging for it.

[silvania]

Originally Posted by Alisa

That's what I was wondering. It seems we're all assuming that there's been a price drop where it just may be that Amazon's taking a big loss and the other stores have no choice but to do the same if they want to keep any sort of foothold. Certainly if Amazon has leveraged any price cut, I would think they'd try to keep that exclusive.

Amazon is simply losing money on those books, they got no special price cut from the big publishers. They have the same terms as all the other ebook retailers. (I know this for a fact, I am not speculating.)

[Astropin]

Originally Posted by KDawg

I dropped by Borders tonight and they had the PRS-505 out on display. It was love at first sight. The slightly awkward controls of the PRS-500 have been cleaned up, the case is cleaner and easier to handle, and the next-generation eInk (same as on the Kindle I believe) display is a vast improvement over the PRS-500 display, which I was happy with. So I caved in and bought it. I think this beautiful new hardware has won me over to Sony for the long run. Now if only Sony would clean up their software and snuggle up to the publishers.

I do wish Amazon would dump the Kindle and team up with Sony for their hardware. That would be the best of both worlds.

Actually the screen on the 505 (eight shades of grey and higher contrast) is more advanced then the screen on the Kindle (four shades of grey). I believe the Kindles is the same as the 500's.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Astropin

Actually the screen on the 505 (eight shades of grey and higher contrast) is more advanced then the screen on the Kindle (four shades of grey). I believe the Kindles is the same as the 500's.

While you're correct on the numbers of gray, the Kindle & 505 (& Cybook) use the same screen (Viziplex), just a different controller.

[astra]

Got mine today!

The first impression:

Bad:

1. The coveris a bit too rigid. Hopefully it will be better after some use.
2. The new joystick is not as responsive as in prs-500.
3. Unsual page refresh.

Good.
1. Stanning screen in comparison to prs-500.
2. Very convenient page turn buttons on the right side. I can now read the reader one handed doesn't matter what hand I am using. Although, mostly right hand.
3. Overall, I am happy so far because the only feature why I upgraded was a new screen (besides my wife wanted my old reader to read Russian books).

[Kingston]

Sony is a huge electronics company and produces hundreds if not thousands of electronic devices. They have a history of entering a new market and then pulling out or downsizing a division so that there is minimal support once the niche market matures and Sonys place in a niche market becomes clear.

I have a couple of old Sony TiVos gathering dust. Yes, I bought ReplayTV after the Sony TiVo and it still works great after all these years. Neither company has made a DVR in several years.

Sony originated the minidisc format, and I got into it about 6-7 years ago. At that time there were around 12 or so Sony minidisc recorder/players to choose from. Now, at least in the American market, a buyer is limited to one model only.

Anyone remember WebTV? I am looking at a Sony WebTV gathering dust on top of my old Sony 32 inch console.

The point of all this blather is that you poor folk supporting Sony ereader products are doomed. Amazon has the muscle and the wherewithall to make their product a success. Not to mention the much greater variety of books to choose from. Sony just can't provide the content that Amazon can, and they will eventually bow out due to market pressures. Sony is like RCA or any other huge company. They just want to see profits in the bottom line.With Amazon gobbling their market share the Sony reader will be gathering dust in 10 years or less along with my Sony TiVo and Sony WebTV.

Yes they will continue to support the old readers, but you can bet your booties that Sony will be a fond memory in the ereader sweepstakes within 5-7 years.

I am a Kindle owner and was only vaguely familiar with the Sony reader before entering the ebook world. It seems to be a great product from what I have read and has a few features the version 1 Kindle lacks such as enhanced grayscale and formatting capabilities not to mention the ever-commented-upon PDF capability. I might even have bought one if the software were Mac compatible (why it's not is beyond me).

Bottom line: Sony's ereader division is a tiny portion of this great companies revenue. Bezos and Amazon have a much greater stake in making the Kindle a long term winner. Sony can bow out gracefully in a few years, just as they did with their TiVo and WebTV. They will probably offer a Reader for years to come, but don't expect them to fight a losing battle against Amazon when it is not in Sony's best financial interest to do so.

I have been on the wrong side of format wars before. Remember Sony Betamax? Yup, I used it for years and have hundreds of tapes stored away. Maybe Kindle is not the "best" reader out there ( I am a Kindle owner and think so!) but the format which makes the most noise in publicity and ease of use will just naturally survive. Darwin's Natural Selection.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Kingston

The point of all this blather is that you poor folk supporting Sony ereader products are doomed. Amazon has the muscle and the wherewithall to make their product a success. Not to mention the much greater variety of books to choose from. Sony just can't provide the content that Amazon can, and they will eventually bow out due to market pressures. Sony is like RCA or any other huge company. They just want to see profits in the bottom line.With Amazon gobbling their market share the Sony reader will be gathering dust in 10 years or less along with my Sony TiVo and Sony WebTV.

Yes they will continue to support the old readers, but you can bet your booties that Sony will be a fond memory in the ereader sweepstakes within 5-7 years.

Unfortunatelly I agree with you, however, I disagree with a line in bold. At least it is not applicable to me. I do not support Sony reader. In 3-4 years whatever we bought today, be it Sony or CyBook or Kindle, will become obsolete. There are will be newer and better readers. Which one will be better and available to me? No idea. Almost sure it will not be Sony because it will be dwarfed by Amazon. All that said, I bought Sony reader today because IMHO it is the best ebook reader that we have today. I am not buying DRMed LRFs but I would not buy DRMed Kindle or Mobipocket books as well. I would have to buy LIT books for any reader I bought today. In that case I choose Sony because its hardware implementation is far superior to any other readers. I do not support Sony, I buy what is convenient for me.

[ewayde]

The one feature of an ebook reader that I've been waiting for is a search function that searches all holdings at once. The Kindle boasts this feature. A device that can hold most of my technical resources, as well as pleasure reading and news gathering, and allows me to search for a term suits me best.

None of them are perfect but the Kindle seems to fit.

[Ervserver]

I don't think Amazon will run Sony out of the reader business, there are actually people that do not like the Kindle. If interest in ebooks continues to grow I think there will be a niche market for the Sony version. I expect Sony will continue to improve it and one day Amazon's ebook library may even become open to the Sony reader.

[astra]

Originally Posted by ewayde

my technical resources

You do not talk about pdf files, do you?

[astra]

Originally Posted by Ervserver

I don't think Amazon will run Sony out of the reader business, there are actually people that do not like the Kindle. If interest in ebooks continues to grow I think there will be a niche market for the Sony version. I expect Sony will continue to improve it and one day Amazon's ebook library may even become open to the Sony reader.

OK. I would not call myself an optimist

[geoelectric]

For me, it came down to a couple of things:

1) I am buying into the service, as well as the reader. Amazon's overall user-experience for the Kindle is well-crafted, and their customer service is especially good.

2) In terms of DRM'd books, beyond the pricing, I'm gauging risk on how long the DRM will be alive to let me read them.

Sony is a bad risk in that regard, IMO, for all the reasons mentioned before--this is a marginal thing for them, and they've only had nominal success in the market.

Amazon, however, will be successful if -anyone- is successful. And if they're not successful with the Kindle-specific service and device, I think there's a reasonable chance they'll make Mobipocket and Kindle cross-compatible (i.e. offer a conversion service from AZW->Mobi for reading content on future Mobi devices and make the AZW devices officially Mobi compatible by loosening the PID spec to allow the asterisk). This isn't wholly unreasonable, given that they own Mobipocket.

And for all the reasons others have mentioned, the instant availability and novelty of the device are getting me back into reading again, so there you go. I didn't sense that I'd have the same experience with Sony. Being able to navigate to Feedbooks.net, Webscriptions.net, or similar and just instantly download free novels is fantastic, never mind the Amazon store.

My other choice--which was about neck in neck, but I wanted the wireless--was actually the Cybook Gen 3. If I had to really bet on a format, it'd be Mobi, given that it's the only one with significant cross-platform support, and the Cybook looks like the best affordable Mobi reader (Iliad beats it for best, but not for affordable). But at the time, the prices on Mobi content were still pretty high, and that AZW/Mobi relationship makes me think things will eventually equalize out with a chance of a soft landing, whichever way it goes.